3:47 PM, July 18, 2008
 If you're the pope, you don't go to the zoo, the zoo comes to you.
After Benedict XVI expressed interest in seeing some Australian animals during his visit to Sydney this week, staff from the Taronga Zoo brought to his retreat a smattering of exotic visitors: a red-necked wallaby, a spiny echidna, a frill-neck lizard, a baby crocodile and others.
The 81-year-old pontiff showed one clear favorite, smiling as he stroked a koala and scratched it behind the ear, according to the Associated Press.
The pope also reportedly patted all the animals with the exception of the hedgehog-like echidna, because it has spikes on its back. And according to the Telegraph, he "appeared slightly uneasy at the sight of Sebastian, a two-metre long carpet python. The pope exclaimed 'Attention', before reaching out gingerly to touch the reptile."
The pope, best known as a cat lover, has been in the spotlight for his affection for animals before, like the time the Vatican tried to bar his two beloved cats from moving into the papal quarters with him. It looks like Australia was a little more accommodating.
-- Tony Barboza
Photo: Associated Press
1:06 PM, July 10, 2008
Sad news from the San Diego Zoo: Shi Shi, the male panda who lived at the zoo from 1996 to 2003, has died in his native China.
Shi Shi fathered a cub by artificial insemination during his stay at the zoo. But he was returned to China when he proved unwilling to mate the natural way. He retained a following among zoo patrons.
Shi Shi, thought to be in his 30s, died July 5 at Ghuanzhou Zoo where he had been receiving care for several years to thwart the ravages of age. He had been born in the wild and injured in a rutting fight with another male.
There is no immediate indication that his death is linked to the recent earthquake that devastated much of China, officials said.
-- Tony Perry, in San Diego
Photo: Roni Galgano/Associated Press
10:45 AM, July 10, 2008
New Yorkers are true walkers and these mallard ducks are no exception. Mother and chick join other strollers on a paved pathway at the Bronx Zoo.
Photo: Kathy Willens/Associated Press
7:02 PM, July 9, 2008
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — A zookeeper’s house cat has adopted a baby red panda abandoned by its mother and is nursing the cub along with her own kittens, the Artis zoo said Wednesday.
The panda’s mother rejected her two cubs after they were born June 30. “She left them there, lying in the cold,” said zoo spokesman Bart Kret.
The zoo initially kept the cubs in an incubator. But a keeper’s tabby that had just given birth to four kittens let the two panda cubs join the crowd. One of the cubs was too weak and died Thursday.
The surviving cub is still smaller than the kittens, which were born three days before her. However, if she survives to be an adult, she will be slightly larger than a cat. Kret said the cub will drink milk for about three months, after which she can start eating bamboo and fruit.
The cub doesn’t have a name yet, but the zoo says that, through its adoption program, anyone willing to sponsor her will be allowed to name her. The red panda is an endangered species that lives in China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, and Burma. It has a striped tail like a raccoon and is only distantly related to the much larger giant panda.
-- From the Associated Press
Photo: Artis Zoo/Associated Press
7:45 PM, July 3, 2008
The Los Angeles Zoo is having its own 4th of July sale. From Friday through Sunday, the zoo is cutting $4 off admission. (The zoo is open every day of the year except Christmas.) While you're there, you can check out a new crop of zoo babies.
The youngsters include the endangered Peninsular pronghorn. Native to Baja California, they hold the distinction of being the only animal with branched horns. (Who knew?) "These are two very special little guys," says the zoo's Jason Jacobs. "They are the first Peninsular pronghorns to ever be born in a zoo."
Meanwhile, in the nursery, the zoo is hand-rearing a female red river hog piglet whose mother wasn't quite up to the job. Apparently, red river hogs have such great hearing they can detect the underground movement of an earthworm. Hmm. We'll take the zoo's word for it.
-- Carla Hall
Photos: Tad Motoyama for the Los Angeles Zoo
3:00 PM, June 30, 2008
The San Francisco Zoo is not having its best year. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that "the institution is in such disarray that officials have decided not to look for a new zoo director until they can get things in order." 
Widely acknowledged problems at the city-owned zoo include decreased attendance after last year's tiger attack on a teenage visitor, low employee morale and a budget stretched thin from emergency repairs, chronic maintenance problems and declining revenue. The tiger, pictured here, was shot and killed after the mauling. As the Chronicle reports: "We would like to stabilize the morale and our finances a little bit over the next few months before we dive into a national executive director search," said Nick Podell, chairman of the nonprofit San Francisco Zoological Society, which operates the zoo on the city's behalf. "I would like to clean house a bit so we don't go out and ask somebody to fix the full mess."
The zoo's director, Manuel Mollinedo, was pushed out earlier this month in part, sources said, because of the dismally low morale among keepers and other staff members. A member of the fundraising board of directors, Hewlett-Packard attorney Tanya McVeigh Peterson, has taken over as interim director. The zoo had its share of issues -- including low staff morale and deteriorating exhibits -- even before Christmas, when Tatiana the Siberian tiger escaped and fatally mauled 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. before she was shot to death by police.
Photo: Associated Press
4:47 PM, June 27, 2008
The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services is offering up adoptable animals at the LA Zoo on Saturday, June 28, from 11am-5pm.
No, you won't be able to take home a chimp or a gerenuk. (Although you can see them on exhibit.) But you will be able to choose from 100 dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, and rabbits brought in from shelters across the city. Charlie, pictured above, is up for adoption. And if Animal Services runs out, they have others on standby, says Ed Boks, general manager of Animal Services.
The event will be held at the main entrance to the LA Zoo located in Griffith Park at the junction of the I-5 and the 134 freeways. There will be carpeting and canopies to protect pooches from the heat.
Adoption fees will also be reduced: $15 off usual canine fees of $86-$91; $28 off feline fees of $64-$68. $10 off the $50 rabbit fee.
Animal Services holds mobile adoption events at various locations on weekends but Boks is hoping this event could be an annual signature event. "I think domestic pets are our connection to the wild," Boks says. "Following a day at the zoo where people really invest their time and energy and intellect into viewing all these wild animals, there's a natural connection to giving serious thought to adopting a pet--and bringing that little force of nature home with you."
Also this weekend, on Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles is sponsoring a low-cost vaccination and microship clinic at the spcaLA's South Bay Pet Adoption Center, 12910 Yukon Ave., in Hawthorne.
--Carla Hall
Photo: Los Angeles Department of Animal Services
9:00 AM, June 21, 2008
We've highlighted people spending gobs on medical bills for their baby-boomer pets. Now the nation's zoos are entering a "zone of unknowns" as animals live longer than anyone expected, the Associated Press reports.
While animals in captivity living longer than their wild brethren is nothing new, as that gap in life expectancy increases -- partly due to better medical care -- there have been some adjustments.
The Santa Ana Zoo, for instance, is home to Moka, a colobus monkey pushing 27 years old, making him the second-oldest in the United States: For Moka, old age has meant only a few minor changes. His perch has been lowered so he doesn't have to jump up to it. He gets regular X-rays to check for arthritis. And he tends to get access to warm areas during the winter.
But the aging population of America's zoos is raising many other simple –- but potentially daunting –- questions.
Do female gorillas, now frequently living into their 40s and 50s, experience menopause?
Can an aging lemur suffer from dementia?
Should an oldster be put down simply because he's old?
"How old is geriatric? How old do animals really live?" says Sharon Dewar, a spokeswoman for the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. "That's the million-dollar question."
The chimpanzee above, Fifi, shown celebrating her 60th birthday, was the matriarch of Sydney, Australia's Taronga Zoo until she died last year at age 61. A chimp's average lifespan in the wild is 45.
-- Tony Barboza
Photo: Mark Baker/Associated Press
9:45 AM, June 19, 2008
The eight young pandas evacuated during the recent earthquakes in China have become the Beijing Zoo's media darlings, Barbara Demick reports.
Visitors to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta can pay to swim with whale sharks, but some experts says the practice could be risky for the sharks, Richard Fausset reports.
Speaking of risk, some SoCal surfers are opting to take the risk of a swim in the shark-populated waters at a beach north of Ixtapa, Mexico, Pete Thomas reports.
President Bush urges offshore drilling in wildlife refuge areas, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger disagrees with tampering with California's coast.
Meanwhile, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a nonprofit coalition of hunting, fishing and other organizations, filed a lawsuit against the Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management in U.S. District Court in Washington, saying the government agency "failed unequivocally" to monitor and mitigate the effects of gas and oil drilling on wildlife in Wyoming, Tami Abdollah reports.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's refusal to let firms test for mad cow disease denies consumers a safety net, a Times editorial says. -- Francisco Vara-Orta
Photo: Andy Wong/Associated Press
6:03 PM, June 18, 2008
 The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., or GLAZA, raised $1,209,011 at last weekend's 38th annual Beastly Ball. Close to 1,000 guests attended the event at the zoo, including Zoo keeper Jennifer Gruenwald with “Grippy” (a gray horned owl); GLAZA President Connie Morgan, left; and Betty White, a long-time GLAZA trustee and host of the event's program. Chaired by Los Angeles Zoo Commissioner Kimberly Marteau Emerson, the ball celebrated the California Condor Recovery Project and the Zoo's role in helping to save the California condor from the brink of extinction.
--Photo: Jamie Pham
4:34 PM, June 9, 2008
Before you even get past the cover of the neatly organized and well-researched paperback, "America's Best Zoos", you may wonder: Why was the foreword written by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich? "Long before I aspired to enter the field of politics, I wanted to be a zookeeper," wrote the once-strident voice of the right in a lengthy explanation of his love of zoos. (As a 10-year-old he lobbied the Harrisburg, Pa., City Council to open a zoo. And, no, he is not named for an amphibian. 'Newt' he explains is an Anglicized version of 'Knut.')
As befits a book extolling the wonders of zoos at a time when they are under frequent fire from animal welfare activists, Gingrich defends them as "as a modern-day Noah's Ark" offering haven from poaching and habitat destruction.
 The authors, Allen W. Nyhuis and Jon Wassner, self-described lifelong zoo lovers, paint a flattering picture of the Los Angeles Zoo, calling it "one of the most beautiful zoos in the country." They single out the new gorilla exhibit, the chimpanzee and orangutan exhibits. (The gorilla at right is one of ours.) They also correctly note that when the zoo gets its expected golden monkeys from China, it will be the only U.S. zoo to have them. The authors give a nice mention to the Oakland Zoo's well-respected elephant exhibit, one of the largest in the country.
The book reviews 97 zoos across the country -- two-thirds of them in assessments of several pages each. In addition there is a nice primer on various animals -- and where to find them. And the book has Zagat-like appendices categorizing zoos according to which has the best exhibits of certain kinds of animals.
--Carla Hall
Photo: Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times
2:19 PM, June 9, 2008
At the Giza Zoo in Cairo, Egypt, workers are paid such low wages that in the past few years they have stolen hundreds of animals to sell as pets, or worse, to eat for dinner, Bloomberg reports: When two Moroccan camels were butchered in August, the perpetrators left behind only the hide and hooves. A police investigation found that a zookeeper had slaughtered the animals and sold the meat to supplement his monthly wage.
More than 400 animals, including foxes, zebras, a black panther and a giraffe, have vanished from the government-run menagerie in the last three years, according to police documents. Zoo conditions have grabbed headlines in a country where people criticize President Hosni Mubarak for everything from crumbling schools and hospitals to the low wages and rising food prices that have sparked violent protests.
"The zoo is a living example of the mess our country has become," said Ahmed Sherbiny, chairman of the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends. "It is a combination of corruption, the death of work ethic, mismanagement and apathy."
The overall picture is bleak: a zoo of faded glory--once a turn-of-the-century marvel, now littered with trash and housing fewer and fewer depressed animals in narrow cages. Most of the visitors come for the cheap admission and to "eat, sleep, throw orange peels at the animals and then leave a pile of trash behind them," according to the zoo's chairman, Nabil Sedqui.
Economic hard times have made it difficult for zoo workers to make ends meet. Zookeepers are paid a civil servant's minimum wage: $22.50 a month.
With limited funds in mind, activists are opposing the government-run zoo's spending $250,000 on a new giraffe, fearing that it too, will be stolen.
--Tony Barboza
Photo: Dana Smillie / Bloomberg News
6:41 PM, June 7, 2008
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Manuel Mollinedo has resigned as the executive director of the San Francisco Zoo, shaking up the zoo's beleaguered management staff nearly six months after a tiger, pictured at right, escaped and killed a teenage visitor. The announcement comoes amid high turnover among zoo employees and what some keepers described as abysmal morale. The San Francisco Zoological Society, the nonprofit organization that oversees zoo operations for the city, announced the resignation Friday evening.
Tanya McVeigh Peterson, a lawyer who serves on the zoo society board of directors and is an active fundraiser for the institution, has been appointed interim director. Carl Friedman, head of the San Francisco Department of Animal Care and Control, will be temporarily deployed to the zoo, at least part time, to help with animal welfare and management issues, according to Mayor Gavin Newsom's office.
Mollinedo became director of the 100-acre facility in February 2004 after running the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks for 1 1/2 years and the Los Angeles Zoo for seven years before that.
The San Francisco Zoological Society provided no details on what led to Mollinedo's departure other than saying he plans to retire in the Bay Area. Photo: Associated Press
6:39 PM, June 7, 2008
 The Portland Oregonian reports that the Oregon Zoo's California condor breeding season ended with good news and bad.
Tuesday, keepers celebrated the arrival of spring's fifth and final hatchling. Wednesday, they mourned the loss of another -- an ailing month-old chick that died during emergency surgery. Because California condors are critically endangered, each hatch brings the species closer to recovery, and each loss is keenly felt, said Shawn St. Michael, the zoo's condor curator.
Only about 300 of the huge, prehistoric-looking birds exist today. The chick that died had a tough go from the start.
The Oregon Zoo's program, which is off-limits to the public because of the birds' fragile status, has produced 15 eggs since it was established. The bird above will serve as foster father to the chick that hatched Tuesday.
In the meantime, the Associated Press reports that three endangered California condors were returned to the wild Friday after undergoing treatment at the Los Angeles Zoo for lead poisoning.
Photo: Michael Durham/Oregon Zoo
1:49 PM, June 5, 2008
Kelly, a silverback gorilla, goes for the carrots today as he and the rest of the gorillas at the Los Angeles Zoo are served a vegetarian (or perhaps herbivore) feast made by top chefs from 10 popular L.A. restaurants. The meal was to promote the zoo's annual Beastly Ball fund-raiser on June 14. Guests who pay the $1,000 ticket price can stroll the grounds after hours to view the animals.
Check out a photo gallery of the gorillas by Times photographer Bob Chamberlin.
Photo: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times
2:01 PM, May 29, 2008
The Living Desert Zoo in Palm Desert on Thursday introduced its newborn giraffe to the public.
The as-yet unnamed 6-foot, 139-pound male was born Wednesday to mother Dadisi and her mate, Hesabu, said Liz Hile, curator of animals for The Living Desert.
The baby reticulated giraffe will eventually join its older sibling, Mutombo, on display at the zoo.
Reticulated giraffes, one of nine recognized sub-species native to northeastern Kenya and eastern Sudan, are so named because of their chestnut-colored patches connected by a network of white lines.
The markings, which are believed to help giraffes recognize one another, are analogous to human fingerprints because they are unique. Giraffes grow quickly, as much as three feet in the first six months of life.
Mutombo, born on Sept. 27, 2006, and named after Dikembe Mutombo, a humanitarian and NBA player for the Houston Rockets, is considered one of the zoo's premier attractions, Hile said.
Meanwhile, as seen in this video, another baby giraffe also made its debut recently, this time in Rome: -- Francisco Vara-Orta
6:51 PM, May 25, 2008
**5/26/08: 10 a.m.: In the meantime, the Chicago Tribune reports that a zoo keeper in South Bend, Indiana, was attacked by a leopard Saturday as she cleaned the big cat's holding area. Her injuries were not serious.
In case you wonder why we call them wild animals, check out some news from the Detroit Free Press: In Katie's 15 years at the Detroit Zoo, the lioness has never been in close contact with her keepers thanks to a pulley system that remotely ushers the big cats from outside to their indoor habitat.
But for an unknown reason, the 16-year-old lioness came too close to her handler Saturday.
Katie scratched and bit her keeper shortly after the zoo closed at 5 p.m. The injured keeper, Brett Kipley, who's in his 20s and has worked at the zoo for a couple years, was taken to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak for treatment of his injuries, which did not require surgery. After receiving stitches, he was scheduled to stay overnight at the hospital, zoo spokeswoman Patricia Mills Janeway told the Free Press.
Zoo officials said they were perplexed by the situation. "We don't know what happened to allow the keeper and her in the same space at the same time," said Scott Carter, the zoo's director of conservation and animal welfare. "We will be investigating what exactly happened."
To watch an interview with Scott Carter, check out station WXYZ.
-- Alice Short
11:00 AM, May 22, 2008
Five rare tiger cubs have been born at the Saint Louis Zoo, the Associated Press reports.
The zoo says the critically endangered Amur tigers were born April 28 and are in an off-display indoor den.
The first-time mother, Kalista, is busy nursing and caring for her babies, the zoo says.
The normal litter size is two or three cubs. The five weigh 4.5 to 7 pounds each.
The species used to be called Siberian tigers. They are at risk because of habitat loss, human encroachment and poaching, zoo officials said.
-- Francisco Vara-Orta
Photo: Saint Louis Zoo/AP
9:41 AM, May 18, 2008
Bruno, a 29-year-old orangutan at the Los Angeles Zoo, tried to escape from his enclosure Saturday but was stopped in his tracks -- after about 3,000 visitors were herded toward the exit.
Times staff writer Jean-Paul Renaud reports: After punching a hole through the mesh that surrounds his habitat, Bruno made his move at about 3:50 p.m. But instead of heading for freedom, he ended up in a holding area behind the cage, where a handler soon noticed him.
Bruno never made it into the zoo's public area, but his attempt prompted officials to ask the park's visitors to head toward the front of the zoo. Keepers quickly approached Bruno, one of the zoo's six orangutans, and sedated him.
"He was calm and responded well to the staff," said Gina Dart, promotions coordinator for the zoo. "He was never aggressive."
Bruno's taste of freedom lasted 20 minutes. None of the zoo's other orangutans has ever tried anything similar, said director John R. Lewis.
"He's a trendsetter," Lewis said.
A much more serious incident at the San Francisco Zoo in December left one teenager dead and two more injured when a tiger escaped from its enclosure. Tatiana, a Siberian tiger, was shot and killed as she roamed the park.
5:04 PM, May 16, 2008
Around the Los Angeles area this weekend, animal lovers can head to the local zoo to meet the Berenstain Bears (and a few real ones too), adopt cats and dogs, and help raise funds to save a range of animals, from emus to tortoises in need.
The Los Angeles Zoo is hosting a meet and greet with the cuddly Berenstain Bear characters on Saturday and Sunday. As for real bears, visitors can see the zoo's American black bears eat some special treats at 11 a.m. both days.
Also this weekend, Los Angeles City Animal Services has a handful of mobile pet adoption sites set up in South Los Angeles, West Los Angeles, the West Valley and Moorpark.
On Sunday, dog lovers can head over to the La Brea Tar Pits for the Walk for the Underdog, an hour-long, 2-mile walk that kicks off at 10 a.m. for a daylong celebration of canines with food, adoptions, and a dog/owner contest. Proceeds go toward raising money for the nonprofit efforts by 30 organizations to save dogs. You can bring your own dog, or come alone and find one to adopt there, organizers say.
Also on Sunday, Hope Ranch Animal Rescue will hold its first annual fundraiser in the Malibu countryside to help raise funds to care for 80 animals: sheep, dogs, emus, horses and tortoises, among others. Donations are $25 per person and the event will take place at the Morris Ranch from 2-6 p.m. with jazz, a petting zoo, and a silent auction.
-Francisco Vara-Orta
Photo: Stephen Osman/Los Angeles Times
5:03 PM, May 16, 2008
The San Diego Zoo, known for its pioneering work in preservation of endangered species, is throwing its resources and reputation behind the fight against global-warming.
 As part of the National Endangered Species Day on Friday, the zoo declared that greenhouse gases are a major threat to wildlife -- not just polar bears, but other large carnivores, birds, reptiles and even coral reefs. "All ecosystems on the planet are being altered by climate change but perhaps none quite as dramatically as coral reefs," said Stuart Sandin from the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, one of the speakers at the all-day seminar.
In the past, the zoo has worked with international partners to preserve giant pandas, condors, elephants and other species. Now, the zoo will "expand its efforts to implement sustainable alternatives to traditional energy," said Allison Alberts, director of conservation and research at the zoo.
-- Tony Perry
Photo: Ken Boh/Associated Press
6:39 PM, May 13, 2008
There's nothing like an elephant... in a zoo... to get many Angelenos riled up. Should the elephants stay or should they go? And what about that $40-million new elephant habitat under construction? Today, City News Service reports that a lawsuit filed to close the Los Angeles Zoo's current elephant exhibit and stop the construction of a new one was dismissed. In the suit filed last Aug. 2 against the city and zoo director John Lewis, actor Robert Culp and real estate agent Aaron Leider maintained zoo authorities have withheld medical care, kept the animals over the years confined in a small area, and used bull hooks and electric shock to control them.
They also maintained the larger exhibit would be a waste of taxpayer money. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley said the issues should be resolved in the political arena rather than in the courtroom.
“America is all about democracy,” Wiley said in granting the city’s motion to dismiss the case before trial. “Sometimes we like its results, and sometimes we abhor the results.”
While calling the arguments in the lawsuit compelling -- including opinions submitted from experts as far away as Australia -- Wiley said the grievances should be brought to the attention of the politicians who made the decisions to have an elephant exhibit and expand the one already there.
The Los Angeles Zoo’s elephant exhibit is currently home to a 21-year-old Asian elephant named Billy. The $40-million exhibit under construction, set to open in 2009 and be called Pachyderm Forest, is designed hold up to five adult Asian elephants and three of their offspring.
4:31 PM, May 7, 2008
For decades, zoos and aquariums across the country have encouraged animals to paint as a way to keep the penned-up denizens mentally enriched. Typically, the paintings were discarded or set aside.
But the Associated Press reports that officials have recently discovered that animal lovers are willing pay even thousands of dollars for the creatures’ creations, prompting zoos across the country to study whether their animal artists, such as Brittany the elephant at the Milwaukee County Zoo, might be an untapped source of revenue.
For details, read below.
-Francisco Vara-Orta
Photo: Morry Gash/Associated Press
Read more Animals as artists ... seriously »
6:12 PM, May 5, 2008
 The San Diego Zoo has entered into an agreement to help the government of Abu Dhabi create a 2,000-acre wildlife park, to be called Dowh Al Ain.
The project is expected to take more than a decade. The goal, according to a joint statement, is to allow visitors to the Persian Gulf nation, part of the United Arab Emirates, to get close to species native to the African, Arabian and Asian deserts.
The zoo and the emirate have been partners on other projects, including the reintroduction of the scimitar-horned oryx, like those pictured here, to Northern Africa.
The wildlife park is an expansion of the Al Ain Zoo and is set to include a five-star resort and a family hotel. In the making for months, the agreement became official Monday at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
-- Tony Perry
Photo: San Diego Zoo
6:09 PM, May 1, 2008
Let's pause from all the breaking animal news to call your attention to the zoo cams on this page. Want to see a live sea otter, like the one above, from the convenience of your computer? Check out the sea otter cam offered by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. If you prefer the nonsaline variety, there's a freshwater otter cam as well.
Zoos and aquariums throughout the country have focused webcams on a wide variety of animals. You'll find a list of cam links on the right side of this page. The San Diego Zoo and National Zoo in Washington, D.C., are particularly fond of them.
There's panda cam (awfully cute), naked mole-rat cam (kind of spooky) and black-footed ferret cam (oddly compelling, even if the ferret is usually sleeping).
Be warned: These cams can be a bit addictive. We don't care to discuss why we know the black-footed ferret often twitches in its sleep.
Let us know what you see.
Photo: Ken Lubas/Los Angeles Times
12:31 PM, April 16, 2008
A chimpanzee rests in the shade at the Ramat Gan Safari Park outside Tel Aviv, Israel, this week.
Photo: Ariel Schalit / Associated Press
5:16 PM, April 14, 2008
The L.A. Zoo last week introduced two endangered African wild dogs, the zoo's first in more than 40 years.
The pair of black, yellow, and white canines are brother and sister, and just over a year old. They most recently lived at New York's Bronx Zoo.
In their native sub-Saharan Africa, the dogs are predators that roam up to 30 miles a day hunting for food.
But they have declined in population recently because of human incursions into their habitat and from diseases such as rabies and canine distemper. Only about 5,000 exist worldwide; about 150 live in captivity in the United States.
Officials plan to breed the pair with wild dogs from other zoos. They are part of the national Species Survival Plan program, which finds suitable mates for animals facing extinction.
--Tony Barboza
Photo: Tad Motoyama/Los Angeles Zoo
4:43 PM, April 10, 2008
A baby giraffe with its mother at a zoo in Hanover, northern Germany, this week. It was born Feb. 16 and is already more than 6½ feet tall.
Photo: Kai-Uwe Knoth/AP
9:42 AM, April 9, 2008
Zoos around the country, including the National Zoo and San Francisco Zoo, have seen an unexplained rise in gorillas dying of heart disease in recent years. Now they are struggling to understand why, the Associated Press reports. Gorillas in zoos around the nation, particularly males and those in their 20s and 30s, have been falling ill — and sometimes dying suddenly — from progressive heart ailments ranging from aneurisms to valvular disease to cardiomyopathy.
Now zookeepers are scrambling to understand what factors may be causing the illnesses and what might be done to save the 368 lowland gorillas that reside in 52 zoos across North America. AP
The rise in fatal heart disease has prompted several studies, including one that found the gorillas who died had abnormally large hearts. But questions abound. Were genetics a factor? Were the gorillas getting enough exercise in their enclosures? Or too much? Was heart disease being caused by bacterial or viral infections?
Read the full AP story after the jump.
Photo: Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times
Read more Gorilla heart disease deaths puzzling zoos »
2:00 PM, April 8, 2008
Four-month-old polar bear cub Flocke (German for snowflake) tests the waters. She was introduced to the public today at a zoo in Nuremberg, southern Germany.
Photo: Oliver Lang/AFP/Getty Images
2:00 PM, April 2, 2008
Although it doesn't really follow Shakespeare's original plot, two rare monkeys named Romeo and Juliet at Santa Ana Zoo have come together and produced an offspring.
Romeo and Juliet are crested capuchin monkeys, and the baby is one of the first of its kind born in captivity in the United States, reports the Orange County Register. There are only 11 others living in U.S. zoos, said Ethan Fisher, the registrar at the zoo, citing an international animal database. (The two here are from the Los Angeles Zoo.) Native to Brazil, crested capuchins live in small, isolated groups. Their forest habitat is disappearing and only 10,000 are known to exist in the wild.
Zookeepers still don't know the sex of the baby, born March 25. They haven't been able yet to inspect the monkey because of its overprotective parents.
The Santa Ana Zoo has often been called the Monkey Zoo because of a requirement, set down by its founder, that it always house at least 50 monkeys.
For more details and a photo gallery, check out the OC Register's story.
-Francisco Vara-Orta
Photo: Tad Motoyama/Los Angeles Zoo
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